Information processing system, communication terminal, information processing unit and program

ABSTRACT

There is provided an information processing apparatus including a first communication section configured to communicate with a communication terminal through a first communication channel, and a second communication section configured to communicate with the communication terminal through a second communication channel different from the first communication channel, wherein the first communication section is used for transmission of connection information for establishing the second communication channel with the communication terminal, wherein the second communication section is configured to establish the second communication channel based on the connection information, and wherein the information processing apparatus is connected to a network based on a connection instruction transmitted across the second communication channel, and receives service data by which to run the information processing apparatus from a service providing apparatus via the network.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/876,872, filed May 18, 2020, which is a U.S. application Ser. No.16/388,036, filed Apr. 18, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,687,387, issued onJun. 16, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/605,445, filed May 25, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,278,236, issued onApr. 30, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/177,889, filed Jun. 9, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,723,654, issued onAug. 1, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/463,457, filed May 3, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,396,477, issued onJul. 19, 2016, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.12/412,067, filed Mar. 26, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,180,278, issued onMay 15, 2012, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application JP2008-100623 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Apr. 8, 2008, the entirecontent of each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to an information processing system, acommunication terminal, an information processing unit and a program.

Communication terminals such as mobile phones are highly sophisticatedtoday, and a user of a communication terminal can receive various servesby making a connection to a service provider unit such as a server thatprovides various services via a base station or the like, for example.Further, such a communication terminal enables indirect communicationbetween the server and an information processing unit incapable ofdirectly communicating with the server, such as a personal computer (PC)and a car navigation unit, by making a connection to the informationprocessing unit.

In such circumstances, techniques of establishing indirect communicationbetween the information processing unit and the service provider unitthat provides services via the communication terminal have beendeveloped. For example, a technique that connects a PC (informationprocessing unit) and a mobile phone unit (communication terminal) toallow access to contents designed for mobile phone units (communicationterminals) from the PC (information processing unit) via the mobilephone unit (communication terminal) is disclosed in Japanese UnexaminedPatent Application Publication No. 2005-94111.

Further, a technique that enables communication with a specifiedcommunication target unit by selectively switching a plurality ofdifferent communication methods is disclosed in Japanese Patent No.3671881, for example.

A user of a hitherto known information processing unit which employs thetechnique according to related art that establishes indirectcommunication between the information processing unit and the serviceprovider unit via the communication terminal can receive servicesprovided by the service provider unit using the information processingunit even when the information processing unit is incapable of directlycommunicating with the service provider unit. In a hitherto knowninformation processing system to which the technique according torelated art that establishes indirect communication between theinformation processing unit and the service provider unit via thecommunication terminal is applied, a series of processing steps relatedto services are performed by the known information processing unit inorder to receive the services provided by the known service providerunit in the known information processing unit.

However, services provided generally are not always such that a seriesof processing steps related to the services can be performed by theknown information processing unit as intended by the known informationprocessing system. For example, the unit to perform processing canchange as shown in the following processing (1) to (3).

(1) First Purchase Processing <Unit to Perform Processing: Mobile Phone(Known Communication Terminal)>

A mobile phone (known communication terminal) makes a connection to aserver (known service provider unit) and purchases map data.

(2) Connection Processing <Unit to Perform Processing: Mobile Phone(Known Communication Terminal)>

The mobile phone (known communication terminal) establishes a connectionwith a car navigation unit (known information processing unit). Themobile phone (known communication terminal) then transmits informationrelated to the purchase processing in the processing (1) to the carnavigation unit (known information processing unit).

(3) Second purchase processing <Unit to perform processing: carnavigation unit (known information processing unit)>

The car navigation unit (known information processing unit) makes anindirect connection to the server (known service provider unit) via themobile phone (known communication terminal) based on the informationrelated to the purchase processing received in the processing (2). Thecar navigation unit (known information processing unit) then downloadsthe purchased map data based on the information related to the purchaseprocessing received in the processing (2).

In the case where the unit to perform processing changes as shown in theprocessing (1) to (3), it is necessary for a user to have the knowncommunication terminal or the known information processing unit carryout each processing (1) to (3) independently. Therefore,user-friendliness decreases significantly in the known informationprocessing system where services for which the unit to performprocessing changes as shown in (1) to (3) are provided.

The known information processing system to which the technique accordingto the related art that establishes indirect communication between aninformation processing unit and a service provider unit via acommunication terminal is applied is compatible with the processing ofthe above step (3) only. Further, even if the technique that selectivelyswitches among a plurality of different communication methods is furtherapplied to the known information processing unit and the knowncommunication terminal, it only improves the user-friendliness in theprocessing of the above step (2).

Accordingly, even with the use of the known information processing unitand the known communication terminal, it is difficult for a user toreceive services provided by the service provider unit seamlessly usingthe information processing unit incapable of direct communication withthe service provider unit that provide services. Therefore, there hasbeen a demand for an information processing system that enables seamlessreception of services provided by a service provider unit using aninformation processing unit incapable of direct communication with theservice provider unit that provide services and thus improvesuser-friendliness.

In light of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide a novel andimproved information processing system, a communication terminal, aninformation processing unit and a program that enable seamless receptionof services provided by a service provider unit using an informationprocessing unit indirectly communicating with the service provider unitvia a communication terminal.

SUMMARY

According to a first embodiment, there is provided a informationprocessing system including at least one service provider unit to storeservice data related to provision of a service, a communication terminalcapable of communicating with the service provider unit, and aninformation processing unit capable of communicating with the serviceprovider unit via the communication terminal and performing serviceprocessing related to a service provided by the service provider unitwith the service provider unit. The communication terminal includes aterminal first communication section to communicate with the serviceprovider unit, a terminal second communication section to communicatewith the information processing unit through a first communicationchannel using a carrier at a prescribed frequency and transmit to theinformation processing unit connection information for establishing asecond communication channel, which is different from the firstcommunication channel, between the communication terminal and theinformation processing unit, a terminal third communication section tocommunicate with the information processing unit through the secondcommunication channel established based on the connection information,and a terminal communication control section to transmit the connectioninformation via the terminal second communication section selectivelyaccording to a communication result with the service provider unit,switch communication channels with the information processing unit fromthe first communication channel to the second communication channelbased on a reception result notification of the connection informationtransmitted from the information processing unit, enable communicationwith the service provider unit corresponding to the connectioninstruction via the terminal first communication section if the terminalthird communication section receives a connection instructiontransmitted from the information processing unit, and connect theterminal first communication section and the terminal thirdcommunication section so as to enable communication between theinformation processing unit and the service provider unit correspondingto the connection instruction. The information processing unit includesa unit first communication section to communicate with the communicationterminal through the first communication channel, a unit secondcommunication section to communicate with the communication terminalthrough the second communication channel, a unit communication controlsection to transmit a reception result notification in response toreception of the connection information by the unit first communicationsection via the unit first communication section, cause the unit secondcommunication section to establish the second communication channelbased on the connection information received by the unit firstcommunication section, and switch communication channels with thecommunication terminal from the first communication channel to thesecond communication channel based on an establishment result of thesecond communication channel by the unit second communication section,and a unit processing section to transmit the connection instructiondesignating the service provider unit to be communicated with via theunit second communication section in response to switching ofcommunication channels by the unit communication control section, andcommunicate with the service provider unit corresponding to theconnection instruction via the unit second communication section andperform the service processing with the service provider unit.

In this configuration, it is possible to implement the informationprocessing system that enables seamless reception of a service providedby the service provider unit using the information processing unit thatindirectly communicates with the service provider unit via thecommunication terminal.

The information processing unit may further include a display sectioncapable of displaying communication request information requestingcommunication through the first communication channel, and if thecommunication request information is displayed on the display section,the unit processing section may generate a connection informationacquisition request requesting acquisition of the connection informationand transmit the generated connection information acquisition request tothe communication terminal via the unit first communication section.

If the terminal second communication section receives the connectioninformation acquisition request, the terminal communication controlsection of the communication terminal may transmit the connectioninformation from the terminal second communication section.

The communication terminal may further include a terminal processingsection to generate connection destination information at leastcontaining service provider unit connection information for making aconnection to the service provider unit and session information foridentifying a session between the communication terminal and the serviceprovider unit, based on a communication result with the service providerunit, and the terminal processing section may transmit the connectiondestination information to the information processing unit via theterminal second communication section or the terminal thirdcommunication section.

If the service processing with the service provider unit is completed,the unit processing section of the information processing unit maytransmit a communication disconnection request for disconnectingcommunication with the service provider unit to the communicationterminal via the unit second communication section, and if the terminalthird communication section receives the communication disconnectionrequest, the terminal communication control section of the communicationterminal may disconnect communication with the service provider unit viathe terminal first communication section.

According to a second embodiment, there is provided a communicationterminal including a terminal first communication section to communicatewith at least one service provider unit to store service data related toprovision of a service, a terminal second communication section tocommunicate with an information processing unit capable of performingservice processing related to a service provided by the service providerunit with the service provider unit through a first communicationchannel using a carrier at a prescribed frequency, and transmit to theinformation processing unit connection information for establishing asecond communication channel, which is different from the firstcommunication channel, between the communication terminal and theinformation processing unit, a terminal third communication section tocommunicate with the information processing unit through the secondcommunication channel established based on the connection information,and a terminal communication control section to transmit the connectioninformation via the terminal second communication section selectivelyaccording to a communication result with the service provider unit,switch communication channels with the information processing unit fromthe first communication channel to the second communication channelbased on a reception result notification of the connection informationtransmitted from the information processing unit, enable communicationwith the service provider unit corresponding to the connectioninstruction via the terminal first communication section if the terminalthird communication section receives a connection instructiontransmitted from the information processing unit, and connect theterminal first communication section and the terminal thirdcommunication section so as to enable communication between theinformation processing unit and the service provider unit correspondingto the connection instruction.

In this configuration, it is possible to implement a part of theinformation processing system that enables seamless reception of aservice provided by the service provider unit using the informationprocessing unit that indirectly communicates with the service providerunit via the communication terminal.

If the terminal second communication section receives a connectioninformation acquisition request requesting acquisition of the connectioninformation transmitted from the information processing unit, theterminal communication control section may transmit the connectioninformation via the terminal second communication section.

According to a third embodiment, there is provided an informationprocessing unit including a unit first communication section tocommunicate with a communication terminal capable of communicating withat least one service provider unit to store service data related toprovision of a service through a first communication channel using acarrier at a prescribed frequency, a unit second communication sectionto communicate with the communication terminal through a secondcommunication channel, which is different from the first communicationchannel, a unit communication control section to cause the unit secondcommunication section to establish the second communication channelbased on connection information for establishing the secondcommunication channel, the connection information being transmitted fromthe communication terminal and received by the unit first communicationsection, and switch communication channels with the communicationterminal from the first communication channel to the secondcommunication channel based on an establishment result of the secondcommunication channel by the unit second communication section, and aunit processing section to transmit a connection instruction designatingthe service provider unit to be communicated with to the communicationterminal via the unit second communication section in response toswitching of communication channels by the unit communication controlsection, and communicate with the service provider unit corresponding tothe connection instruction via the unit second communication section andperform service processing related to a service provided by the serviceprovider unit with the service provider unit based on a reception resultof the connection instruction transmitted from the communicationterminal.

In this configuration, it is possible to implement a part of theinformation processing system that enables seamless reception of aservice provided by the service provider unit using the informationprocessing unit that indirectly communicates with the service providerunit via the communication terminal.

The information processing unit may further include a display sectioncapable of displaying communication request information requestingcommunication through the first communication channel, and if thecommunication request information is displayed on the display section,the unit processing section may generate a connection informationacquisition request requesting acquisition of the connection informationand transmit the generated connection information acquisition request tothe communication terminal via the unit first communication section.

According to a fourth embodiment, there is provided a program causing acomputer to function as first communication means to communicate with atleast one service provider unit to store service data related toprovision of a service, as second communication means to communicatewith an information processing unit capable of performing serviceprocessing related to a service provided by the service provider unitwith the service provider unit through a first communication channelusing a carrier at a prescribed frequency and transmit connectioninformation for establishing a second communication channel, which isdifferent from the first communication channel, between the computer andthe information processing unit to the information processing unit, asthird communication means to communicate with the information processingunit through the second communication channel established based on theconnection information, and as communication control means to transmitthe connection information via the second communication meansselectively according to a communication result with the serviceprovider unit, switch communication channels with the informationprocessing unit from the first communication channel to the secondcommunication channel based on a reception result notification of theconnection information transmitted from the information processing unit,enable communication with the service provider unit corresponding to theconnection instruction via the first communication means if the thirdcommunication means receives a connection instruction transmitted fromthe information processing unit, and connect the first communicationmeans and the third communication means so as to enable communicationbetween the information processing unit and the service provider unitcorresponding to the connection instruction.

With such a program, it is possible to implement the informationprocessing system that enables seamless reception of a service providedby the service provider unit using the information processing unit thatindirectly communicates with the service provider unit via thecommunication terminal.

According to a fifth embodiment, there is provided a program causing acomputer to function as first communication means to communicate with acommunication terminal capable of communicating with at least oneservice provider unit to store service data related to provision of aservice through a first communication channel using a carrier at aprescribed frequency, as second communication means to communicate withthe communication terminal through a second communication channel, whichis different from the first communication channel, as communicationcontrol means to cause the second communication means to establish thesecond communication channel based on connection information forestablishing the second communication channel, the connectioninformation being transmitted from the communication terminal andreceived by the first communication means, and switch communicationchannels with the communication terminal from the first communicationchannel to the second communication channel based on an establishmentresult of the second communication channel by the second communicationmeans, and a processing means to transmit a connection instructiondesignating the service provider unit to be communicated with to thecommunication terminal via the second communication means in response toswitching of communication channels by the communication control meansand communicate with the service provider unit corresponding to theconnection instruction via the second communication means and performservice processing related to a service provided by the service providerunit with the service provider unit based on a reception result of theconnection instruction transmitted from the communication terminal.

With such a program, it is possible to implement the informationprocessing system that enables seamless reception of a service providedby the service provider unit using the information processing unit thatindirectly communicates with the service provider unit via thecommunication terminal.

According to the embodiments described above, it is possible toseamlessly receive services provided by the service provider unit usingthe information processing unit indirectly communicating with theservice provider unit via the communication terminal.

Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will beapparent from the following Detailed Description and the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of the configuration ofan information processing system according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of the hardwareconfiguration of a communication terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the overview of processingin a communication terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an example of the hardwareconfiguration of an information processing unit according to anembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the overview of processingin an information processing unit according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process flow of a first example ofprocessing in an information processing system according to anembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the process flow of a second example ofprocessing in an information processing system according to anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Hereafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to theappended drawings. Note that in this specification and the appendeddrawings, structural elements that have substantially the same functionsand structures are denoted with the same reference numerals and arepeated explanation of these structural elements is omitted.

(Information Processing System According to an Embodiment)

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing an example of the configuration ofan information processing system 1000 according to an embodiment.Referring to FIG. 1, the information processing system 1000 includes acommunication terminal 100, an information processing unit 200, and atleast one service provider unit 300 etc. The communication terminal 100is connected to each of the service provider unit 300 etc. through anetwork 500. Although the information processing unit 200 is incapableof directly communicating with each of the service provider unit 300etc., the information processing unit 200 can indirectly communicatewith each of the service provider unit 300 etc. via the communicationterminal 100 by making a connection to the communication terminal 100.

The network 500 may be a wireless wide area network (WWAN) through abase station, a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) or the like,though not limited thereto. Further, the term “connection” referred toin an embodiment means that communication is possible between units (orcommunication is established between units), for example.

Each of the communication terminal 100, the information processing unit200 and the service provider unit 300 etc. that constitute theinformation processing system 1000 is described hereinafter. In thefollowing, the service provider unit 300 among at least one serviceprovider units is described, and the other service provider units arenot described because they may have the identical configuration.Further, in the following, the case where the communication terminal 100communicates with the service provider unit 300 and the informationprocessing unit 200 indirectly communicates with the service providerunit 300 is described by way of illustration.

[1] Service Provider Unit 300

The service provider unit 300 is described firstly. The service providerunit 300 includes a storage section 302, a communication section 304 anda control section 306, and it acts to provide given services to a unitfrom which a connection is made. Examples of the given services providedby the service provider unit 300 are a download sales service ofapplications, a download sales service of various kinds of data such asmap data, an information providing service such as advertisements andcoupons and so on, though not limited thereto.

The service provider unit 300 may further include read only memory (ROM)in which programs and control data such as operation parameter to beused by the control section 306 are recorded, random access memory (RAM)to primarily store programs to be executed by the control section 306,an operating section to be manipulated by an administrator of theservice provider unit 300, a display section and so on, although theyare not shown. The service provider unit 300 connects the abovecomponents through a bus as a data transmission channel, for example.

The operating section (not shown) may be an operation input device suchas a keyboard and a mouse, a button, a direction key, a rotary selectorsuch as a jog dial, or a combination of those, for example, though notlimited thereto. Further, the display section (not shown) may be aliquid crystal display (LCD), an organic electroluminescence (EL)display (which is also called an organic light emitting diode (OLED)display) or the like, though not limited thereto.

The storage section 302 is a storage means included in the serviceprovider unit 300, and it may store service data related to provision ofservices, various applications to be used by the control section 306 orthe like upon provision of services, databases in which information suchas sold items, prices and customers are recorded and so on, for example.The service data stored in the storage section 302 correspond to theservices provided by the service provider unit 300. For example, if theservice provider unit 300 provides the download sales services,applications and data such as map data as items of the download salesservices are stored as the service data in the storage section 302.Further, if the service provider unit 300 provides the informationproviding service, data of advertisement information and data of couponinformation are stored as the service data in the storage section 302.FIG. 1 shows the case where the service data 310, 312 etc. are stored inthe storage section 302.

The storage section 302 may be a magnetic recording medium such as ahard disk, nonvolatile memory such as electrically erasable programmableread-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, magnetoresistive random accessmemory (MRAM), ferroelectric random access memory (FeRAM) andphase-change random access memory (PRAM) and so on, though not limitedthereto.

The communication section 304 is a communication means included in theservice provider unit 300, and it performs communication related toprovided services with a unit such as the communication terminal 100from which a connection is made through the network 500. Thecommunication related to provided services performed by thecommunication section 304 may be transmission of service data (i.e.downloading of service data to the communication terminal 100),transmission of a request for a connection with the informationprocessing unit 200 to the communication terminal 100 (which is referredto hereinafter also as the “first connection request”) and so on, thoughnot limited thereto. The communication section 304 may be formed byhardware including a communication interface compatible with the network500.

The first connection request is information that acts as a trigger forstart of communication with the information processing unit 200 in thecommunication terminal 100. For example, the first connection requestmay contain a connection instruction to the information processing unit200, information of a site URL corresponding to the service providerunit 300, session information about communication with the communicationterminal 100 (e.g. information identifying a session related to purchasewith the communication terminal 100) and so on. The first connectionrequest may further contain message information including a message forprompting a user of the communication terminal 100 to make a connectionto the information processing unit 200. The message in the messageinformation may be “touch”, “make a connection” and so on, for example.

The control section 306 is formed by a micro processing unit (MPU) orthe like, for example, and performs processing related to servicesprovided by the service provider unit 300 (which is referred tohereinafter as “service processing”) with each unit such as thecommunication terminal 100 or the information processing unit 200connected to the communication section 304. The service processingperformed by the control section 306 may be payment processing,transmission processing of service data (e.g. data and applications asitems for sale, advertisement information, coupon information etc.),generation processing of the first connection request and so on, forexample, although not limited thereto.

Having the above configuration, the service provider unit 300 canprovide services to the units such as the communication terminal 100 andthe information processing unit 200 with which a connection is made.Specific examples of the processing of the communication terminal 100,the information processing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300 inthe information processing system 1000 are described later.

[2] Communication Terminal 100

The communication terminal 100 is described next. The communicationterminal 100 is a communication unit having a communication functioncapable of directly communicating with the service provider unit 300through the network 500. The communication terminal 100 further hasanother communication function capable of directly communicating withthe information processing unit 200, thereby allowing the informationprocessing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300 to indirectlycommunicate with each other.

The communication terminal 100 communicates with the informationprocessing unit 200 using two different communication channels. Beforedescribing the configuration of the communication terminal 100, thereason that the communication terminal 100 performs communication withthe information processing unit 200 using two different communicationchannels is described hereinafter.

(2-1) Reason that the Communication Terminal 100 Performs Communicationwith the Information Processing Unit 200 Using Two DifferentCommunication Channels

In the case of performing communication between two units such as thecommunication terminal 100 and the information processing unit 200, ahigh speed and high secure communication method is generally demanded.Thus, the two units such as the communication terminal 100 and theinformation processing unit 200 are connected by wireless communicationas defined in IEEE 802.15.1, wireless communication using a wirelesslocal area network (LAN) defined in IEEE 802.11b or the like, wiredcommunication using a local area network (LAN) and so on, for example.However, when connecting the two units by wired or wirelesscommunication, it is necessary for a user to perform various connectionsettings such as setting of an internet protocol (IP) address andcommunication setting of IEEE 802.15.1 in order to enable communication.If a user is forced to perform such connection setting work for enablingcommunication, user-friendliness decreases significantly. Further, whena user is forced to perform such connection setting work for enablingcommunication, seamless communication between the information processingunit 200 and the service provider unit 300 is difficult.

In light of this, the communication terminal 100 according to anembodiment improves user-friendliness and allows seamless communicationbetween the information processing unit 200 and the service providerunit 300 by eliminating the need for the above connection setting by auser. Specifically, the communication terminal 100 communicates with theinformation processing unit 200 using a first communication channel anda second communication channel through which communication is performedby different communication methods, thereby improving user-friendlinessand enabling seamless communication.

The first communication channel is established by a communication methodcapable of performing one-to-one communication with the informationprocessing unit 200 without the need for particular communicationsetting by a user. For example, the first communication channelaccording to an embodiment may be a communication channel established bynear field communication (NFC) that uses a magnetic field (carrier) witha specific frequency such as 13.56 MHz for communication, infraredcommunication that uses infrared radiation for communication or thelike, though not limited thereto.

On the other hand, the second communication channel is established by acommunication method capable of performing one-to-one communication withthe information processing unit 200 at higher speed with the need forprescribed communication setting. For example, the second communicationchannel according to an embodiment may be a communication channelestablished by wireless communication as defined in IEEE 802.15.1,wireless communication using a wireless LAN defined in IEEE 802.11b orthe like, wired communication using a LAN or the like, though notlimited thereto.

The communication method using the first communication channel and thesecond communication channel between the communication terminal 100 andthe information processing unit 200 is described hereinafter in furtherdetail. The communication terminal 100 selectively transmits variouskinds of information such as connection information and connectiondestination information to the information processing unit 200 using thefirst communication channel.

The connection information is information in which setting for makingthe information processing unit 200 perform connection setting toestablish a second communication channel is recorded. For example, theconnection information may contain a personal identification number(PIN) for authentication, a private IP address assigned to thecommunication terminal 100, a media access control (MAC) address uniqueto the communication terminal 100 and so on, though not limited thereto.

The connection destination information is information that specifies aconnection destination to be used for making a connection from theinformation processing unit 200 to the service provider unit 300. Forexample, the connection destination information may contain dial-upinformation (one example of service provider unit connectioninformation) for making a connection to the service provider unit 300(or the network 500), site URL information (one example of serviceprovider unit connection information) corresponding to the serviceprovider unit 300, session information about communication between thecommunication terminal 100 and the service provider unit 300 (e.g.information identifying a session related to purchase between thecommunication terminal 100 and the service provider unit 300) and so on,though not limited thereto. The connection destination information maybe generated by the communication terminal 100 based on the firstconnection request received from the service provider unit 300, dial-upinformation for making a connection to the network 500 prestored in thecommunication terminal 100 and so on.

The communication terminal 100 selectively transmits the prestoredconnection information, the generated connection destination informationand so on to the information processing unit 200 based on acommunication result with the service provider unit 300, a connectioninformation acquisition request (which is described later) transmittedfrom the information processing unit 200 through the first communicationchannel and so on, for example.

As a result that the communication terminal 100 selectively transmitsthe connection information through the first communication channel,connection setting for establishing the second communication channel isperformed in the information processing unit 200. Thus, it is notnecessary for a user of the communication terminal 100 and theinformation processing unit 200 to perform connection setting forestablishing the second communication channel. Therefore, thecommunication terminal 100 enables improvement in user-friendliness byperforming communication with the information processing unit 200 usingthe two different communication channels. As described above, the firstcommunication channel according to an embodiment can serve as aninformation transmission channel for transmitting and receiving variouskinds of information such as the connection information between thecommunication terminal 100 and the information processing unit 200.

Further, if the communication terminal 100 receives a connectioninformation reception result notification notifying reception of theconnection information from the information processing unit 200 throughthe first communication channel, the communication terminal 100 switchesthe communication channel with the information processing unit 200 fromthe first communication channel to the second communication channelbased on the connection information. Because connection setting forestablishing the second communication channel is performed in theinformation processing unit 200 on the basis of the connectioninformation transmitted through the first communication channel, thecommunication terminal 100 and the information processing unit 200 cancommunicate with each other through the second communication channelbased on the connection information. Further, by the connectioninformation transmitted from the communication terminal 100 through thefirst communication channel, the information processing unit 200 becomesable to make a connection to the service provider unit 300.

Communication through the second communication channel can be performedat higher speed and with higher security, for example, compared withcommunication through the first communication channel, and acommunication distance of the second communication channel can be setlonger than that of the first communication channel. Accordingly, in thestate where the communication terminal 100 and the informationprocessing unit 200 are connected through the second communicationchannel, the information processing unit 200 can perform indirectcommunication with the service provider unit 300 via the communicationterminal 100 more stably. Therefore, in the information processingsystem 1000, the second communication channel is used as a communicationchannel between the information processing unit 200 and the serviceprovider unit 300, for example. Thus, the second communication channelaccording to an embodiment can serve as a data transmission channel fortransmitting and receiving data such as service data transmitted fromthe service provider unit 300 between the communication terminal 100 andthe information processing unit 200.

As described above, as a result that the communication terminal 100selectively transmits the connection information through the firstcommunication channel, the communication terminal 100 and theinformation processing unit 200 can communicate with each other usingthe second communication channel serving as the data transmissionchannel without the need for connection setting by a user. Therefore, inthe configuration where the communication terminal 100 performscommunication with the information processing unit 200 using the twodifferent communication channels, the communication terminal 100 allowsthe information processing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300 tobe connected seamlessly.

As described in the foregoing, the reason that the communicationterminal 100 performs communication with the information processing unit200 using the two different communication channels is that it ispossible to improve user-friendliness and enable seamless communicationbetween the information processing unit 200 and the service providerunit 300.

(2-2) Exemplary Configuration of the Communication Terminal 100

The configuration of the communication terminal 100 is describedhereinafter. The communication terminal 100 includes a terminal firstcommunication section 102, a terminal second communication section 104,a terminal third communication section 106, a terminal communicationcontrol section 108, a terminal processing section 110, a terminalstorage section 112, a display section 114, and an operating section116.

The communication terminal 100 may further include a control sectionformed by an MPU or the like and capable of controlling thecommunication terminal 100 as a whole, ROM in which programs and controldata such as operation parameters to be used by the control section arerecorded, RAM to primarily store programs to be executed by the controlsection and so on, although they are not shown. The communicationterminal 100 connects the above components through a bus as a datatransmission channel, for example. Further, the control section mayfunction as the terminal communication control section 108 and theterminal processing section 110.

[Exemplary Hardware Configuration of the Communication Terminal 100]

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view showing an example of the hardwareconfiguration of the communication terminal 100 according to anembodiment. Referring to FIG. 2, the communication terminal 100 includesa first communication interface 150, a wireless communication antennacircuit 152, a carrier transmission circuit 154, a second communicationinterface 156, an MPU 158, a ROM 160, a RAM 162, a recording medium 164,an input/output interface 166, an operation input device 168 and adisplay device 170, for example. The communication terminal 100 connectsthe above components through a bus 172 as a data transmission channel,for example.

The first communication interface 150 is a first communication meansincluded in the communication terminal 100, and it functions as theterminal first communication section 102. The first communicationinterface 150 acts to perform wireless communication (or wiredcommunication) with external units such as the service provider unit 300etc. through the network 500. For example, the first communicationinterface 150 may be a radio frequency (RF) circuit or the like,although not limited thereto.

The wireless communication antenna circuit 152 is a second communicationmeans included in the communication terminal 100. The wirelesscommunication antenna circuit 152 includes a resonant circuit composedof a coil having given inductance as a transmitting/receiving antennaand a capacitor having given capacitance and a demodulator circuit, forexample. The wireless communication antenna circuit 152 receives amagnetic field with a frequency of 13.56 MHz, for example (which isreferred to hereinafter as the “first carrier”) and thereby demodulatesvarious instructions such as a connection information acquisitionrequest (which is described later) that requests the connectioninformation transmitted from the information processing unit 200.

The carrier transmission circuit 154 includes a modulator circuit thatperforms amplitude shift keying (ASK) modulation and an amplifiercircuit that amplifies an output of the modulator circuit, for example,and transmits the first carrier on which a carrier signal issuperimposed through the transmitting/receiving antenna of the wirelesscommunication antenna circuit 152. With the carrier transmission circuit154, the communication terminal 100 incorporates the reader/writerfunction. The carrier signal transmitted from the carrier transmissioncircuit 154 through the wireless communication antenna circuit 152 maybe signals of the connection information, the connection destinationinformation and so on, for example. The transmission of the carrier fromthe carrier transmission circuit 154 is controlled by the MPU 158, forexample.

Thus, the wireless communication antenna circuit 152 and the carriertransmission circuit 154 function as the terminal second communicationsection 104 that establishes the first communication channel in thecommunication terminal 100. Although FIG. 2 shows the case where thefirst communication channel is formed by NFC, it is not limited thereto.For example, in the case where the first communication channel is formedby infrared communication, the communication terminal 100 may include aninfrared communication port, a transmitting/receiving circuit and so on.

The second communication interface 156 is a third communication meansincluded in the communication terminal 100, and it functions as theterminal third communication section 106. The second communicationinterface 156 functions as a communication interface that establishesthe second communication channel in the communication terminal 100. Thesecond communication interface 156 may be an IEEE 802.15.1 port and atransmitting/receiving circuit, an IEEE 802.11b port and atransmitting/receiving circuit, a LAN terminal and atransmitting/receiving circuit or the like, though not limited thereto.

The MPU 158 functions as a control unit that controls the communicationterminal 100 as a whole. Further, the MPU 158 can act as the terminalcommunication control section 108 and the terminal processing section110 in the communication terminal 100.

The ROM 160 stores programs and control data such as operationparameters to be used by the MPU 158, and the RAM 162 primarily storesprograms to be executed by the MPU 158 and so on.

The recording medium 164 functions as the terminal storage section 112,and it can store connection information, connection destinationinformation, applications and so on. For example, the recording medium164 may be a magnetic recording medium such as a hard disk, nonvolatilememory such as flash memory or the like, though not limited thereto.

The input/output interface 166 makes a connection with the operationinput device 168 and the display device 170, for example. Theinput/output interface 166 may be a universal serial bus (USB) terminal,a digital visual interface (DVI) terminal, a high-definition multimediainterface (HDMI) terminal or the like, though not limited thereto.Further, the operation input device 168 may be a button, a directionkey, a rotary selector such as a jog dial or a combination of those, forexample, and it is mounted on the communication terminal 100 andconnected to the input/output interface 166 inside the communicationterminal 100. The display device 170 may be an LCD or an organic ELdisplay, for example, and it is mounted on the communication terminal100 and connected to the input/output interface 166 inside thecommunication terminal 100. The input/output interface 166 may alsomakes a connection with an operation input device (e.g. a keyboard, amouse) or a display device (e.g. an external display) as external unitsof the communication terminal 100.

With the hardware configuration as shown in FIG. 2, the communicationterminal 100 can form a part of the information processing system 1000in which the service provided by the service provider unit 300 can bereceived seamlessly using the information processing unit 200 thatindirectly communicates with the service provider unit 300 via thecommunication terminal 100.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the components of the communication terminal100 that constitutes the information processing system 1000 aredescribed hereinbelow. The terminal first communication section 102 is afirst communication means included in the communication terminal 100,and it acts to perform wireless communication (or wired communication)with external units such as the service provider unit 300 etc. throughthe network 500. The terminal first communication section 102 may be anRF circuit or the like, for example.

The terminal second communication section 104 is a second communicationmeans included in the communication terminal 100, and it acts to performcommunication with the information processing unit 200 through the firstcommunication channel. The terminal second communication section 104 maycommunicate with the information processing unit 200 by NFC or infraredcommunication, for example, although not limited thereto.

With the terminal second communication section 104, the communicationterminal 100 can transmit various kinds of information such asconnection information and connection destination information to theinformation processing unit 200 through the first communication channel,for example. As a result that the communication terminal 100 transmitsthe connection information, the communication terminal 100 and theinformation processing unit 200 become able to communicate with eachother using the second communication channel. Thus, the communicationterminal 100 may transmit the connection destination information to theinformation processing unit 200 through the second communicationchannel.

The terminal third communication section 106 is a third communicationmeans included in the communication terminal 100, and it acts to performcommunication with the information processing unit 200 through thesecond communication channel. The terminal third communication section106 may communicate with the information processing unit 200 by wirelesscommunication as defined in IEEE 802.15.1 or wireless communicationusing a wireless LAN as defined in IEEE 802.11b or the like, forexample, though not limited thereto.

With the terminal third communication section 106, the communicationterminal 100 can perform communication with the information processingunit 200 at higher speed and with higher security, for example.

The terminal communication control section 108 acts to control each ofthe terminal first communication section 102, the terminal secondcommunication section 104 and the terminal third communication section106. Specifically, the terminal communication control section 108performs the following processing (A) to (F), for example:

(A) Perform communication with the service provider unit 300 via theterminal first communication section 102

(B) Perform communication with the information processing unit 200 viathe terminal second communication section 104 (Communication through thefirst communication channel. Transmission of connection information, forexample)

(C) Switch communication via the terminal second communication section104 and communication via the terminal third communication section 106(Switching of the first communication channel and the secondcommunication channel)

(D) Perform communication with the information processing unit 200 viathe terminal third communication section 106 (Communication through thesecond communication channel)

(E) Connect the terminal third communication section 106 and theterminal first communication section 102 and relay communication betweenthe information processing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300(Enable communication between the information processing unit 200 andthe service provider unit 300)

(F) Disconnect communication with the service provider unit 300 andcommunication with the information processing unit 200 when the terminalthird communication section 106 receives a communication disconnectionrequest (which is described later) from the information processing unit200

The terminal communication control section 108 can perform the aboveprocessing (A) to (F) based on instructions supplied from the terminalprocessing section 110, instructions transmitted from the informationprocessing unit 200 (for example, an connection instruction, aconnection information acquisition request, a communicationdisconnection request and so on, which are described later) and so on,for example.

The terminal processing section 110 acts to perform various kinds ofprocessing in the communication terminal 100. Further, the terminalprocessing section 110 can function as a control section that controlsthe communication terminal 100 as a whole. Examples of the processingperformed by the terminal processing section 110 are service processingperformed with the service provider unit 300 via the terminal firstcommunication section 102, generation processing of connectiondestination information, generation and transmission processing ofvarious instructions to the terminal communication control section 108and so on, though not limited thereto.

Examples of the service processing performed by the terminal processingsection 110 are processing for section of an item to purchase,processing for determination of purchase of the item and so on. Further,the terminal processing section 110 generates the connection destinationinformation at least including the service provider unit connectioninformation for making a connection to the service provider unit 300 andsession information identifying a session between the communicationterminal 100 and the service provider unit 300 based on the firstconnection request transmitted from the service provider unit 300. Theservice provider unit connection information may be dial-up informationfor making a connection to the service provider unit 300 (or the network500), site URL information corresponding to the service provider unit300 and so on, for example, although not limited thereto.

The terminal storage section 112 is a storage means included in thecommunication terminal 100. In the terminal storage section 112, theconnection information, the connection destination information generatedby the terminal processing section 110, applications to be executed bythe terminal processing section 110 and so on are stored. The connectioninformation may be generated by the terminal processing section 110based on an operation input to the operating section 116 and recordedinto the terminal storage section 112, for example. FIG. 1 shows thecase where the connection information 120 and the connection destinationinformation 122 are stored in the terminal storage section 112.

The terminal storage section 112 may be a magnetic recording medium suchas a hard disk, nonvolatile memory such as flash memory and so on, forexample, though not limited thereto.

The display section 114 is a display means included in the communicationterminal 100, and it displays various kinds of information on a displayscreen. Examples of the information displayed on the display screen ofthe display section 114 are an operating screen for causing thecommunication terminal 100 to perform a desired operation, a browsingscreen, a display screen of a message based on the first connectionrequest transmitted from the service provider unit 300 and so on, thoughnot limited thereto. The display section 114 may be an LCD or an organicEL display, for example, though not limited thereto.

The operating section 116 is an operating means included in thecommunication terminal 100, and it allows a desired operation by a userto be performed. The operating section 116 enables selection of an itemprovided by the service provider unit 300, determination of purchase ofan item and so on in the communication terminal 100 and also allows adesired operation by a user to be performed in the communicationterminal 100. The operating section 116 may be an operation input devicesuch as a keyboard and a mouse, a button, a direction key, a rotaryselector such as a jog dial or a combination of those, for example,though not limited thereto.

Having the above configuration, the communication terminal 100 enablesthe information processing unit 200 which is incapable of directlycommunicating with the service provider unit 300 to indirectlycommunicate with the service provider unit 300. Further, thecommunication terminal 100 enables the information processing unit 200to seamlessly perform service processing with the service provider unit300 (to seamlessly receive the service provided by the service providerunit 300). The overview of the processing performed in the communicationterminal 100 is described hereinafter in detail.

(2-3) Overview of Processing in the Communication Terminal 100

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the overview of processingin the communication terminal 100 according to an embodiment.

The communication terminal 100 starts communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 using the terminal first communication section 102(S100) and performs service processing (S102). The service processingperformed by the communication terminal 100 may be processing related toselection of an item to purchase, determination of purchase of an itemand so on, for example, though not limited thereto.

The communication terminal 100 generates connection destinationinformation based on a result of the service processing with the serviceprovider unit 300 (S104). In this step, the communication terminal 100may generate the connection destination information at least includingservice provider unit connection information and session informationbased on the first connection request transmitted from the serviceprovider unit 300, for example. Then, the communication terminal 100terminates communication with the service provider unit 300 (S106).

Further, the communication terminal 100 may display a message forprompting a user to make a connection to the information processing unit200 on the display section 114 based on message information contained inthe first connection request transmitted from the service provider unit300. The message displayed on the display section 114 by thecommunication terminal 100 may be a message such as “touch” that promptsa user to move the communication terminal 100 to a communication rangewhere communication with the information processing unit 200 using thecommunication terminal 100 is available, for example, though not limitedthereto.

Although FIG. 3 shows the case where the communication terminal 100performs the processing of the step S106 after the processing of thestep S104, it is not limited thereto. For example, the communicationterminal 100 may perform the processing of the step S104 after theprocessing of the step S106.

After communication with the service provider unit 300 is terminated inthe step S106, the communication terminal 100 transmits the connectioninformation and the connection destination information to theinformation processing unit 200 using the terminal second communicationsection 104 (S108; communication through the first communicationchannel). The communication terminal 100 may perform the processing ofthe step S108 by transmitting the first carrier on which a carriersignal is superimposed through the transmitting/receiving antenna of thewireless communication antenna circuit 152, for example, though notlimited thereto.

Although FIG. 3 shows the case where the communication terminal 100transmits the connection destination information generated by theprocessing of the step S104 in the step S108, it is not limited thereto.For example, the communication terminal 100 may transmit the connectiondestination information to the information processing unit 200 throughthe second communication channel after communication through the secondcommunication channel (communicating using the terminal thirdcommunication section 106) becomes available between the communicationterminal 100 and the information processing unit 200.

After transmitting the connection information and the connectiondestination information in the step S108, the communication terminal 100determines whether communication using the terminal third communicationsection 106 (communication through the second communication channel)becomes available (S110). For example, the communication terminal 100may determine that the communication has become available when theterminal second communication section 104 receives a connectioninformation reception result notification that is transmitted from theinformation processing unit 200 upon reception of the connectioninstruction, though not limited thereto.

If it is not determined in the step S110 that communication through thesecond communication channel becomes available, the communicationterminal 100 repeats the processing from the step S108. In the casewhere it is not determined that communication through the secondcommunication channel becomes available even after predetermined timeelapses from the processing of the step S108 or after the processing ofthe step S108 is repeated a predetermined number of times, thecommunication terminal 100 may terminate the processing (which is calledtime out). Further, in this case, the communication terminal 100 maymake a connection to the service provider unit 300 again using theterminal first communication section 102 and give a notification thatthe processing in response to the first connection request (a connectionrequest to the information processing unit 200) has failed.Alternatively, the communication terminal 100 may display a warningmessage on the display section 114.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step S110 thatcommunication through the second communication channel becomesavailable, the communication terminal 100 changes communication with theinformation processing unit 200 into communication using the terminalthird communication section 106 (S112; communication through the secondcommunication channel).

Then, based on a connection instruction transmitted from the informationprocessing unit 200 through the second communication channel, thecommunication terminal 100 starts communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 corresponding to the connection instruction using theterminal first communication section 102 (S114).

After a connection with the service provider unit 300 is established inthe step S114, the communication terminal 100 connects the terminalfirst communication section 102 to communicate with the service providerunit 300 and the terminal third communication section 106 to communicatewith the information processing unit 200 (S116). By performing theprocessing of the step S116, the communication terminal 100 enables theinformation processing unit 200 to perform indirect communication withthe service provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100.

Then, the communication terminal 100 terminates communication with theservice provider unit 300 using the terminal first communication section102 in response to a communication disconnection request transmittedfrom the information processing unit 200 (or the service provider unit300) (S118).

Further, the communication terminal 100 terminates communication withthe information processing unit 200 using the terminal thirdcommunication section 106 in response to a communication disconnectionrequest transmitted from the information processing unit 200 (S120).

By performing the processing as shown in FIG. 3, the communicationterminal 100 enables the information processing unit 200 which isincapable of directly communicating with the service provider unit 300to indirectly communicate with the service provider unit 300.

Further, although the communication terminal 100 actively performs theprocessing from the step S100 to S112, it performs the processing fromthe step S114 to S120 passively in response to the instructions from theinformation processing unit 200. Thus, after switching communicationwith the information processing unit 200 into communication through thesecond communication channel (the processing after the step S114), thecommunication terminal 100 acts as a communication relay that relayscommunication between the information processing unit 200 and theservice provider unit 300.

The switching of the active processing and the passive processing in thecommunication terminal 100 is performed automatically in conjunctionwith the switching of the communication channels with the informationprocessing unit 200 in the step S112. Therefore, it is not necessary fora user of the communication terminal 100 to be conscious of theswitching of the communication channels and the switching of theprocessing at all. Thus, the user can seamlessly receive the serviceprovided by the service provider unit 300 using the informationprocessing unit 200 that indirectly communicates with the serviceprovider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100.

As described above, the communication terminal 100 can form a part ofthe information processing system 1000 in which the service provided bythe service provider unit 300 can be received seamlessly using theinformation processing unit 200 that indirectly communicates with theservice provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100.

[3] Information Processing Unit 200

The information processing unit 200, which is another component of theinformation processing system 1000, is described below. The informationprocessing unit 200 is a unit that does not have a communicationfunction for directly communicating with the service provider unit 300through the network 500. Further, the information processing unit 200has two different communication functions for directly communicatingwith the communication terminal 100. The reason that the informationprocessing unit 200 performs communication with the communicationterminal 100 using two different communication channels is the same asthe one described in the above (2-1) and thus not repeatedly described.

Having the communication functions that enable direct communication withthe communication terminal 100, the information processing unit 200 canindirectly communicate with the service provider unit 300 via thecommunication terminal 100. In the following, the configuration of theinformation processing unit 200 is described with reference back to FIG.1, and the overview of the processing performed in the informationprocessing unit 200 is described after that.

(3-1) Exemplary Configuration of the Information Processing Unit 200

The information processing unit 200 includes a unit storage section 202,a unit first communication section 204, a unit second communicationsection 206, a unit communication control section 208, a unit processingsection 210, a display section 212 and an operating section 214.

The information processing unit 200 may further include a controlsection formed by an MPU or the like and capable of controlling theinformation processing unit 200 as a whole, ROM in which programs andcontrol data such as operation parameters to be used by the controlsection are recorded, RAM to primarily store programs to be executed bythe control section and so on, although they are not shown. Theinformation processing unit 200 connects the above components through abus as a data transmission channel, for example. Further, the controlsection may function as the unit communication control section 208 andthe unit processing section 210.

[Exemplary Hardware Configuration of the Information Processing Unit200]

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing an example of the hardwareconfiguration of the information processing unit 200 according to anembodiment. Referring to FIG. 4. the information processing unit 200includes a wireless communication antenna circuit 250, a carriertransmission circuit 252, a communication interface 254, an MPU 256, aROM 258, a RAM 260, a recording medium 262, an input/output interface264, an operation input device 266 and a display device 268. Theinformation processing unit 200 connects the above components through abus 270 as a data transmission channel, for example.

The wireless communication antenna circuit 250 is a first communicationmeans included in the information processing unit 200, and it acts toestablish first communication with the communication terminal 100. Thewireless communication antenna circuit 250 includes a resonant circuitcomposed of a coil having given inductance as a transmitting/receivingantenna and a capacitor having given capacitance and a demodulatorcircuit, for example, just like the wireless communication antennacircuit 152 included in the communication terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2.In this configuration, the wireless communication antenna circuit 250can demodulate the first carrier transmitted from the communicationterminal 100 and acquire various kinds of information such as theconnection information and the connection destination information.

The carrier transmission circuit 252 includes a modulator circuit thatperforms ASK modulation and an amplifier circuit that amplifies anoutput of the modulator circuit, for example, and transmits the firstcarrier on which a carrier signal is superimposed through thetransmitting/receiving antenna of the wireless communication antennacircuit 250, just like the carrier transmission circuit 154 included inthe communication terminal 100 shown in FIG. 2. With the carriertransmission circuit 252, the information processing unit 200incorporates the reader/writer function. The carrier signal transmittedfrom the carrier transmission circuit 252 through the wirelesscommunication antenna circuit 250 may be signals of a connectioninformation reception result in response to reception of connectioninformation, a connection instruction that instructs the communicationterminal 100 to make a connection to the service provider unit 300 andso on, for example. Further, the transmission of the carrier from thecarrier transmission circuit 252 is controlled by the MPU 256, forexample.

Thus, the wireless communication antenna circuit 250 and the carriertransmission circuit 252 function as the unit first communicationsection 204 that establishes the first communication channel in theinformation processing unit 200. Although FIG. 4 shows the case wherethe first communication channel is formed by NFC, it is not limitedthereto. For example, in the case where the first communication channelis formed by infrared communication, the information processing unit 200may include an infrared communication port, a transmitting/receivingcircuit and so on. Thus, the unit first communication section 204 in theinformation processing unit 200 may have the configuration correspondingto the configuration of the terminal second communication section 104 inthe communication terminal 100.

The communication interface 254 is a second communication means includedin the information processing unit 200. The communication interface 254acts to establish second communication with the communication terminal100, and it functions as the unit second communication section 206.Thus, the communication interface 254 may have the configurationcorresponding to the configuration of the terminal third communicationsection 106 (which corresponds to the second communication interface 156shown in FIG. 2) in the communication terminal 100.

The MPU 256 functions as a control unit that controls the informationprocessing unit 200 as a whole. Further, the MPU 256 can act as the unitcommunication control section 208 and the unit processing section 210 inthe information processing unit 200.

The ROM 258 stores programs and control data such as operationparameters to be used by the MPU 256, and the RAM 260 primarily storesprograms to be executed by the MPU 256 and so on.

The recording medium 262 functions as the unit storage section 202, andit can store the connection information and the connection destinationinformation transmitted from the communication terminal 100, the servicedata and applications acquired from the service provider unit 300 and soon. The recording medium 262 may be a magnetic recording medium such asa hard disk, nonvolatile memory such as flash memory or the like, forexample, though not limited thereto.

The input/output interface 264 makes a connection with the operationinput device 266 and the display device 268, for example. Theinput/output interface 264 may be a USB terminal, a DVI terminal, anHDMI terminal or the like, for example, though not limited thereto.Further, the operation input device 266 may be a button, a directionkey, a rotary selector such as a jog dial or a combination of those, forexample, and it is mounted on the information processing unit 200 andconnected to the input/output interface 264 inside the informationprocessing unit 200. The display device 268 may be an LCD or an organicEL display, for example, and it is mounted on the information processingunit 200 and connected to the input/output interface 264 inside theinformation processing unit 200. The input/output interface 264 may alsomake a connection an operation input device (e.g. a keyboard, a mouse)or a display device (e.g. an external display) as external units of theinformation processing unit 200.

With the hardware configuration as shown in FIG. 4, the informationprocessing unit 200 can indirectly communicate with the service providerunit 300 via the communication terminal 100 and perform serviceprocessing with the service provider unit 300. Further, in thecommunication terminal 100, the switching of the communication channelswith the information processing unit 200 and the switching of the activeand passive processing are performed during a series of processing stepsrelated to communication with the service provider unit 300 or theinformation processing unit 200 without the need for a switchingoperation by a user. Thus, the information processing unit 200 can forma part of the information processing system 1000 in which the serviceprovided by the service provider unit 300 can be received seamlesslyusing the information processing unit 200 that indirectly communicateswith the service provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the components of the information processingunit 200 that constitutes the information processing system 1000 aredescribed hereinbelow. The unit storage section 202 is a storage meansincluded in the information processing unit 200. In the unit storagesection 202, the connection information and the connection destinationinformation transmitted from the communication terminal 100, the servicedata acquired from the service provider unit 300, applications to beexecuted by the unit processing section 210 and so on are stored. FIG. 1shows the case where the connection information 120, the connectiondestination information 122 and the service data 312 etc. are stored inthe unit storage section 202.

The unit storage section 202 may be a magnetic recording medium such asa hard disk, nonvolatile memory such as flash memory and so on, forexample, though not limited thereto.

The unit first communication section 204 is a first communication meansincluded in the information processing unit 200, and it acts to performcommunication with the communication terminal 100 through the firstcommunication channel. The unit first communication section 204 maycommunicate with the communication terminal 100 by NFC or infraredcommunication, for example, although not limited thereto.

With the unit first communication section 204, the informationprocessing unit 200 can acquire various kinds of information such as theconnection information and the connection destination informationtransmitted from the communication terminal 100 through the firstcommunication channel, for example. As a result that the communicationterminal 100 transmits the connection information, the communicationterminal 100 and the information processing unit 200 become able tocommunicate with each other through the second communication channel.Thus, the information processing unit 200 may acquire the connectiondestination information from the communication terminal 100 through thesecond communication channel.

The unit second communication section 206 is a second communicationmeans included in the information processing unit 200, and it acts toperform communication with the communication terminal 100 through thesecond communication channel. The unit second communication section 206may communicate with the communication terminal 100 by wirelesscommunication as defined in IEEE 802.15.1 or wireless communicationusing a wireless LAN as defined in IEEE 802.11b or the like, forexample, though not limited thereto.

With the unit second communication section 206, the informationprocessing unit 200 can perform communication with the communicationterminal 100 at higher speed and with higher security, for example.

The unit communication control section 208 acts to control each of theunit first communication section 204 and the unit second communicationsection 206. Specifically, the unit communication control section 208performs the following processing (a) to (e), for example:

(a) Perform communication with the communication terminal 100 via theunit first communication section 204 (Communication through the firstcommunication channel)

(b) Transmit a “connection information reception result” indicatingreception of connection information to the communication terminal 100upon reception of the connection information by the unit firstcommunication section 204

(c) Perform communication setting of the unit second communicationsection 206 based on the connection information received by the unitfirst communication section 204 (Formation of the second communicationchannel)

(d) Switch communication via the unit first communication section 204and communication via the unit second communication section 206(Switching of the first communication channel and the secondcommunication channel)

(e) Perform communication with the communication terminal 100 via theunit second communication section 206 (Communication through the secondcommunication channel)

The unit processing section 210 acts to perform various kinds ofprocessing in the information processing unit 200. Further, the unitprocessing section 210 can function as a control section that controlsthe information processing unit 200 as a whole. Examples of theprocessing performed by the unit processing section 210 are generationprocessing of various requests to be transmitted to the communicationterminal 100, service processing performed with the service providerunit 300 via the unit second communication section 206 and thecommunication terminal 100 and so on, though not limited thereto.

The requests generated by the unit processing section 210 may be aconnection instruction based on the connection destination informationacquired from the communication terminal 100, a connection informationacquisition request, a communication disconnection request and so on,for example. The connection information acquisition request isinformation containing an instruction that requests the communicationterminal 100 to transmit connection information. The communicationdisconnection request is information containing an instruction thatrequests the communication terminal 100 to disconnect communication(communication with the service provider unit 300 or communication withthe information processing unit 200).

The unit processing section 210 transmits the generated connectioninstruction and communication disconnection request to the communicationterminal 100 using the unit second communication section 206 (i.e.through the second communication channel), for example, The connectioninformation acquisition request is a request for the connectioninformation for establishing the second communication channel to thecommunication terminal 100. Thus, the unit processing section 210transmits the generated connection information acquisition request tothe communication terminal 100 using the unit first communicationsection 204 (i.e. through the first communication channel). The unitprocessing section 210 may further add dial-up information for making aconnection to the service provider unit 300 (or the network 500) or thelike to the connection instruction, for example.

Examples of the service processing performed by the unit processingsection 210 are service data download request processing, service datadownload processing, service data download completion notificationtransmission processing and so on, though not limited thereto.

The display section 212 is a display means included in the informationprocessing unit 200, and it displays various kinds of information on adisplay screen. Examples of the information displayed on the displayscreen of the display section 212 are an operating screen for causingthe information processing unit 200 to perform a desired operation, abrowsing screen, a screen showing a result of service processing, adisplay screen displaying communication request information and so on,though not limited thereto. The communication request information isinformation that requests communication with the communication terminal100 through the first communication channel. The communication requestinformation may be a message such as “touch” that prompts a user to movethe communication terminal 100 to a communication range wherecommunication with the information processing unit 200 through the firstcommunication channel is available, for example, though not limitedthereto. The display section 212 may be an LCD or an organic EL display,for example, though not limited thereto.

The operating section 214 is an operating means included in theinformation processing unit 200, and it allows a desired operation by auser to be performed. The operating section 214 enables an operation todetermine purchase of an item provided by the service provider unit 300and so on in the communication terminal 100 and also allows a desiredoperation by a user to be performed by the information processing unit200. The operating section 214 may be an operation input device such asa keyboard and a mouse, a button, a direction key, a rotary selectorsuch as a jog dial or a combination of those, for example, though notlimited thereto.

Having the above configuration, the information processing unit 200indirectly communicates with the service provider unit 300 via thecommunication terminal 100. The information processing unit 200 canthereby receive the service provided by the service provider unit 300.The overview of the processing performed in the information processingunit 200 is described hereinafter in further detail.

(3-2) Overview of Processing in the Information Processing Unit 200

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the overview of theprocessing in the information processing unit 200 according to anembodiment. The case where the first communication channel between thecommunication terminal 100 and the information processing unit 200 isformed by NFC is described hereinafter by way of illustration.

The information processing unit 200 determines whether the unit firstcommunication section 204 has received the carrier (first carrier)(S200, communication through the first communication channel). Forexample, the information processing unit 200 may perform determinationof the step S200 based on a change in the voltage of the communicationantenna of the wireless communication antenna circuit 250, though notlimited thereto. If it is not determined in the step S200 that the unitfirst communication section 204 has received the carrier (firstcarrier), the information processing unit 200 does not proceed to thenext step.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step S200 that the unitfirst communication section 204 has received the carrier (firstcarrier), the information processing unit 200 demodulates the carriersignal (S202). The information processing unit 200 may performdetermination of the step S200 with use of a result of the step S202. Inthis case, the step S200 and the step S202 can be regarded as oneprocessing.

After demodulating the carrier signal in the step S202, the informationprocessing unit 200 determines whether the connection informationtransmitted from the communication terminal 100 is demodulated (S204).If it is not determined in the step S204 that the connection informationis demodulated, the information processing unit 200 repeats theprocessing from the step S200.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step S204 that theconnection information is demodulated, the information processing unit200 performs communication setting of the unit second communicationsection 206 based on the connection information and makes change tocommunication using the unit second communication section 206 (S206;communication through the second communication channel).

After switching the communication channel to the second communicationchannel in the step S206, the information processing unit 200 generatesa connection instruction that instructs the communication terminal 100to make a connection to the service provider unit 300 (S208).

After generating the connection instruction in the step S208, theinformation processing unit 200 transmits the connection instruction tothe communication terminal 100 through the second communication channel(S210).

After transmitting the connection instruction in the step S210, theinformation processing unit 200 determines whether communication withthe service provider unit 300 becomes available (S212). The informationprocessing unit 200 may perform determination of the step S212 based onwhether it has received a connection result indicating thatcommunication with the service provider unit 300 becomes available whichis transmitted from the communication terminal 100, for example, thoughnot limited thereto.

If it is not determined in the step S212 that communication with theservice provider unit 300 becomes available, the information processingunit 200 repeats the processing from the step S210, for example.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step S212 thatcommunication with the service provider unit 300 becomes available, theinformation processing unit 200 starts indirect communication with theservice provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100 (S214). Theinformation processing unit 200 may access a Web site corresponding tothe service provider unit 300 based on site URL information or the likecontained in the connection destination information transmitted from thecommunication terminal 100, for example.

Although the information processing unit 200 may acquire the connectiondestination information together with the connection information throughthe first communication channel, it is not limited thereto. For example,the information processing unit 200 may acquire the connectiondestination information from the communication terminal 100 through thesecond communication channel after the step S206.

After starting indirect communication with the service provider unit 300via the communication terminal 100 in the step S214, the informationprocessing unit 200 performs service processing with the serviceprovider unit 300 (S216), and then determines whether the serviceprocessing is completed (S218). The information processing unit 200 mayperform determination of the step S218 based on whether reception of theservice data transmitted from the service provider unit 300 iscompleted, for example, through limited thereto.

If it is not determined in the step S218 that the service processing iscompleted, the information processing unit 200 repeats the processingfrom the step S216, for example.

On the other hand, if it is determined in the step S218 that the serviceprocessing is completed, the information processing unit 200 transmits acommunication disconnection request to the communication terminal 100and thereby terminates communication with the service provider unit 300and the communication terminal 100 (S220).

By performing the processing as shown in FIG. 5, the informationprocessing unit 200 can indirectly communicate with the service providerunit 300 via the communication terminal 100.

Further, the information processing unit 200 establishes the secondcommunication channel based on the connection information transmittedfrom the communication terminal 100 and switches communication with thecommunication terminal 100 from the first communication channel to thesecond communication channel. After the communication channel isswitched, the information processing unit 200 transmits the connectioninstruction to the service provider unit 300 based on the connectiondestination information acquired from the communication terminal 100 tothe communication terminal 100. As described above, the communicationterminal 100 makes a connection to the service provider unit 300 basedon the received connection instruction and acts as a communication relaythat relays communication between the information processing unit 200and the service provider unit 300.

The switching of the communication channels with the communicationterminal 100 is performed automatically based on the connectioninformation. Further, the generation of the connection instruction isalso performed automatically in conjunction with the switching of thecommunication channels with the communication terminal 100 in the stepS206. Therefore, it is not necessary for a user of the informationprocessing unit 200 to be conscious of the switching of thecommunication channels and the generation of the connection instructionat all. Thus, the user can seamlessly receive the service provided bythe service provider unit 300 using the information processing unit 200that indirectly communicates with the service provider unit 300 via thecommunication terminal 100.

As described above, the information processing unit 200 can form a partof the information processing system 1000 in which the service providedby the service provider unit 300 can be received seamlessly using theinformation processing unit 200 that indirectly communicates with theservice provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100.

[Process Flow of the Entire Information Processing System 1000]

Each of the communication terminal 100, the information processing unit200 and the service provider unit 300 that constitute the informationprocessing system 1000 is described in the foregoing. In the following,the process flow of the entire information processing system 1000 isdescribed. The case where the service provider unit 300 provides aservice data download sales service is described hereinafter by way ofillustration.

(4-1) First Example

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the process flow of a first example of theprocessing in the information processing system 1000 according to anembodiment.

The communication terminal 100 makes a connection to the serviceprovider unit 300 and accesses a Web site corresponding to the serviceprovider unit 300 (S300). Then, the service provider unit 300 transmitsitem list information to the communication terminal 100 (S302).

Based on the item list information transmitted in the step S302, thecommunication terminal 100 performs item selection processing thatselects an item to purchase (S304). The communication terminal 100 mayperform the processing of the step S304 based on an operation input tothe operating section 116.

The communication terminal 100 transmits purchase information based on aresult of the item selection processing in the step S304 to the serviceprovider unit 300 (S306). The purchase information may contain an itemID for identifying a selected item, information about the number ofitems to purchase and so on, for example.

Receiving the purchase information transmitted in the step S306, theservice provider unit 300 transmits confirmation information in whichtransaction information is recorded to the communication terminal 100(S308).

Receiving the confirmation information transmitted in the step S308, thecommunication terminal 100 transmits purchase determination informationto the service provider unit 300 when it intends to determine thepurchase of the item (S310).

Receiving the purchase determination information transmitted in the stepS310, the service provider unit 300 transmits a first connection requestto the communication terminal 100 (S312). The first connection requestmay contain a connection instruction to the information processing unit200, site URL information corresponding to the service provider unit300, session information related to communication with the communicationterminal 100, message information containing a message prompting a userof the communication terminal 100 to make a connection to theinformation processing unit 200 and so on, for example.

Receiving the first connection request in the step S312, thecommunication terminal 100 disconnects communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 (S314). Alternatively, the service provider unit 300may disconnect communication with the communication terminal 100 afterthe processing of the step S312.

Then, the communication terminal 100 generates connection destinationinformation based on the first connection request received in the stepS312 (S316). Further, the communication terminal 100 may display amessage such as “touch” that prompts a user to make a connection to theinformation processing unit 200 on the display section 114 based on themessage information contained in the first connection request, thoughnot limited thereto. Alternatively, the communication terminal 100 mayinform a user of the above message by voice based on the messageinformation contained in the first connection request, for example.

After generating the connection destination information in the stepS316, the communication terminal 100 transmits the connectioninformation stored in the terminal storage section 112 and theconnection destination information to the information processing unit200 using the terminal second communication section 104 (S318;communication through the first communication channel).

Although FIG. 6 shows the case where the communication terminal 100transmits the connection destination information in the step S318, it isnot limited thereto. For example, the communication terminal 100 maytransmit the connection destination information between the steps S322and S324, which are described later, through the second communicationchannel.

Receiving the connection information and the connection destinationinformation transmitted in the step S318, the information processingunit 200 transmits a connection information reception result indicatingreception of the connection information to the communication terminal100 (S320; communication through the first communication channel).

The information processing unit 200 that has transmitted the connectioninformation reception result and the communication terminal 100 that hasreceived the connection information reception result in the step S320respectively perform communication setting for the second communicationchannel. Then, the communication terminal 100 and the informationprocessing unit 200 switch communication channels from the firstcommunication channel to the second communication channel (S322).Although not shown in FIG. 6, communication between the communicationterminal 100 and the information processing unit 200 in the processingafter the step S322 is performed through the second communicationchannel.

After switching the communication channels in the step S322, theinformation processing unit 200 transmits a connection instruction for aconnection with the service provider unit 300 to the communicationterminal 100 (S324).

Receiving the connection instruction transmitted in the step S324, thecommunication terminal 100 performs dial-up connection in response tothe connection instruction, thereby enabling communication with theservice provider unit 300 (S326). After communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 becomes available, the communication terminal 100transmits a connection available notification to the informationprocessing unit 200 (S328). Further, the communication terminal 100connects the terminal first communication section 102 and the terminalthird communication section 106, thereby enabling indirect communicationbetween the information processing unit 200 and the service providerunit 300.

Receiving the connection available notification transmitted in the stepS328, the information processing unit 200 makes an indirect connectionto the service provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100 andaccesses the Web site corresponding to the service provider unit 300(S330). The information processing unit 200 may access the Web sitecorresponding to the service provider unit 300 based on the site URLinformation contained in the connection destination information acquiredfrom the communication terminal 100. Further, the information processingunit 200 may transfer the session information contained in theconnection destination information acquired from the communicationterminal 100 to the service provider unit 300, thereby taking over thesessions in the processing from the step S300 to S314.

Based on the transferred session information, the service provider unit300, which is connected to the information processing unit 200 in thestep S330, transmits download confirmation information that confirmsdownloading of service data (purchase item) to the informationprocessing unit 200 via the communication terminal 100 (S332).

Receiving the download confirmation information transmitted in the stepS332, the information processing unit 200 transmits a download requestthat requests downloading of the service data to the service providerunit 300 via the communication terminal 100 when it intends to downloadthe service data (S334).

Receiving the download request transmitted in the step S334, the serviceprovider unit 300 transmits the service data to the informationprocessing unit 200 via the communication terminal 100 (S336). The datatransmitted from the service provider unit 300 in the step S336 is notlimited to the service data corresponding to the purchased item. Forexample, the service provider unit 300 may additionally transmit catalogdata, advertisement information, security patch and so on.

Receiving the service data transmitted in the step S336, the informationprocessing unit 200 performs receiving processing for the receivedservice data (S338). Examples of the receiving processing performed bythe information processing unit 200 are recording of the service data tothe unit storage section 202, installation of the service data, displayof information on the display screen of the display section 212 and soon, though not limited thereto.

After the service data receiving processing is completed in the stepS338, the information processing unit 200 transmits a downloadcompletion notification notifying completion of service data downloadingto the service provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100(S340). The processing of the information processing unit 200 during thesteps S324 to S340 is the service processing.

Then, the information processing unit 200 transmits a communicationdisconnection request for disconnecting communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 and a communication disconnection request fordisconnecting communication through the second communication channel tothe communication terminal 100 (S342).

Receiving the communication disconnection requests in the step S342, thecommunication terminal 100 disconnects communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 (S444) and further disconnects communication throughthe second communication channel (S346). The service provider unit 300,which has been disconnected from the communication terminal 100 in thestep S344, then performs sales completion processing as postprocessingof sales (S348). Although the disconnection of communication through thesecond communication channel is performed by the communication terminal100 in the above example, it may be performed by the informationprocessing unit 200.

As shown in FIG. 6, in the first example of the processing in theinformation processing system 1000 according to an embodiment, roughlythree sequences of processing, (I) processing between the communicationterminal 100 and the service provider unit 300, (II) processing betweenthe communication terminal 100 and the information processing unit 200and (III) processing between the information processing unit 200 and theservice provider unit 300, are performed independently.

The communication terminal 100 can perform switching of communicationchannels with the information processing unit 200 and switching betweenactive processing and passive processing automatically duringcommunication with the information processing unit 200 as describedearlier. Further, the information processing unit 200 can performswitching of communication channels with the communication terminal 100and generation of a connection instruction automatically duringcommunication with the communication terminal 100. Because theinformation processing system 1000 includes the communication terminal100 and the information processing unit 200 having such functions, it ispossible to make the processing sequences (I) to (III) appear assuccessive processing for a user.

Therefore, a user of the information processing system 1000 canseamlessly receive the download sales service provided by the serviceprovider unit 300 using the information processing unit 200 incapable ofdirect communication with the service provider unit 300.

(4-2) Second Example

An example of the processing in the information processing system 1000in the case where a download sales service is provided by the serviceprovider unit 300 is described above with reference to FIG. 6. However,the process flow of the processing in the information processing system1000 in the case where a download sales service is provided is notlimited to the first example shown in FIG. 6. As a second example of theprocessing in the information processing system 1000, the processing inthe case where content data to which use limitation or functionlimitation is set are prestored in the unit storage section 202 of theinformation processing unit 200 and then the function limitation or thelike is removed is described hereinafter.

The content data prestored in the information processing unit 200 may beapplications to which trial period limitation or function limitation isset, video data to which playback limitation is set, audio data to whichplayback limitation is set and so on, though not limited thereto.Further, the content data may be protected by an encryption key, forexample. In the following, the content data prestored in the informationprocessing unit 200 is basically referred to as service data. Further,it is assumed in the following description that the connectiondestination information of the service provider unit corresponding toeach service data is prestored in the unit storage section 202 of theinformation processing unit 200.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the process flow of the second example ofthe processing in the information processing system 1000 according to anembodiment.

The information processing unit 200 selects an item to purchase based onthe service data (item) prestored in the unit storage section 202 of theinformation processing unit 200 (S400). The information processing unit200 may perform the processing of the step S400 based on an operationinput to the operating section 214, for example.

After selecting the item, the information processing unit 200 maydisplay a message (communication request information) that prompts auser to make a connection to the communication terminal 100, such as“touch the communication terminal 100” on the display section 212,though not limited thereto. Alternatively, the information processingunit 200 may inform a user of the above message by voice, for example.

After selecting the item in the step S400, the information processingunit 200 transmits a connection information acquisition request thatrequests acquisition of connection information to the communicationterminal 100 using the unit first communication section 204 (S402;communication through the first communication channel).

Receiving the connection information acquisition request transmitted inthe step S400, the communication terminal 100 transmits connectioninformation to the information processing unit 200 using the terminalsecond communication section 104 in response to the connectioninformation acquisition request (S404; communication through the firstcommunication channel).

Receiving the connection information transmitted in the step S404, theinformation processing unit 200 transmits a connection informationreception result indicating reception of the connection information tothe communication terminal 100, as in the step S320 of FIG. 6 (S406;communication through the first communication channel).

The information processing unit 200 that has transmitted the connectioninformation reception result and the communication terminal 100 that hasreceived the connection information reception result in the step S406respectively perform communication setting for the second communicationchannel, as in the step S322 of FIG. 6. Then, the communication terminal100 and the information processing unit 200 switch communicationchannels from the first communication channel to the secondcommunication channel (S408).

After switching the communication channels in the step S408, theinformation processing unit 200 transmits a connection instruction for aconnection with the service provider unit 300 to the communicationterminal 100, as in the step S324 of FIG. 6 (S410).

Receiving the connection instruction transmitted in the step S410, thecommunication terminal 100 performs dial-up connection in response tothe connection instruction, thereby enabling communication with theservice provider unit 300, as in the step S326 of FIG. 6 (S412). Aftercommunication with the service provider unit 300 becomes available, thecommunication terminal 100 transmits a connection available notificationto the information processing unit 200, as in the step S328 of FIG. 6(S414). Further, the communication terminal 100 connects the terminalfirst communication section 102 and the terminal third communicationsection 106, thereby enabling indirect communication between theinformation processing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300.

Receiving the connection available notification transmitted in the stepS414, the information processing unit 200 makes an indirect connectionto the service provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100 andaccesses a Web site corresponding to the service provider unit 300, asin the step S330 of FIG. 6 (S416).

Then, the service provider unit 300, which is connected to theinformation processing unit 200 in the step S416, transmits downloadconfirmation information that confirms downloading of service data(purchase item) to the information processing unit 200 via thecommunication terminal 100 based on the information about the selecteditem in the S400 transferred from the information processing unit 200(S418).

Receiving the download confirmation information transmitted in the stepS418, the information processing unit 200 transmits a download requestto the service provider unit 300 via the communication terminal 100, asin the step S334 of FIG. 6 (S420).

Receiving the download request transmitted in the step S420, the serviceprovider unit 300 transmits the service data to the informationprocessing unit 200 via the communication terminal 100 (S422). Examplesof the service data transmitted from the service provider unit 300 are alicense key or an encryption key corresponding to the content datadesired to be purchased by the information processing unit 200,difference data, the content data itself and so on, though not limitedthereto. For example, the service provider unit 300 may additionallytransmit catalog data, advertisement information, security patch and soon.

Receiving the service data transmitted in the step S422, the informationprocessing unit 200 performs receiving processing for the receivedservice data (S424). Examples of the receiving processing performed bythe information processing unit 200 are removal of function limitationor use limitation on the content data, display of information on thedisplay screen of the display section 212 and so on, though not limitedthereto.

After the service data receiving processing is completed in the stepS424, the information processing unit 200 transmits a downloadcompletion notification to the service provider unit 300 via thecommunication terminal 100, as in the step S340 of FIG. 6 (S426). Theprocessing of the information processing unit 200 during the steps S416to S426 is the service processing.

Then, the information processing unit 200 transmits a communicationdisconnection request for disconnecting communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 and a communication disconnection request fordisconnecting communication through the second communication channel tothe communication terminal 100, as in the step S342 of FIG. 6 (S428).

Receiving the communication disconnection requests in the step S428, thecommunication terminal 100 disconnects communication with the serviceprovider unit 300 (S430) and further disconnects communication throughthe second communication channel (S432), as in the steps S344 and S346of FIG. 6. The service provider unit 300, which has been disconnectedfrom the communication terminal 100 in the step S430, then performssales completion processing as postprocessing of sales (S434).

As shown in FIG. 7, in the second example of the processing in theinformation processing system 1000 according to an embodiment, roughlytwo sequences of processing, (i) processing between the communicationterminal 100 and the information processing unit 200 and (ii) processingbetween the information processing unit 200 and the service providerunit 300, are performed independently.

The communication terminal 100 can perform switching of communicationchannels with the information processing unit 200 and switching betweenactive processing and passive processing automatically duringcommunication with the information processing unit 200 as describedearlier. Further, the information processing unit 200 can performswitching of communication channels with the communication terminal 100and generation of a connection instruction automatically duringcommunication with the communication terminal 100. Because theinformation processing system 1000 includes the communication terminal100 and the information processing unit 200 having such functions, it ispossible to make the processing sequences (i) and (ii) appear assuccessive processing for a user.

Therefore, a user of the information processing system 1000 canseamlessly receive the download sales service provided by the serviceprovider unit 300 using the information processing unit 200 incapable ofdirect communication with the service provider unit 300.

As described in the foregoing, the information processing system 1000according to an embodiment includes the communication terminal 100, theinformation processing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300 etc.The communication terminal 100 acts as a communication relay between theinformation processing unit 200 and the service provider unit 300 etc.and enables indirect communication between the information processingunit 200 and the service provider unit 300 etc.

The communication terminal 100 can perform switching of communicationchannels with the information processing unit 200 and switching betweenactive processing and passive processing automatically duringcommunication with the information processing unit 200 as describedabove. Further, the information processing unit 200 can performswitching of communication channels with the communication terminal 100and generation of a connection instruction automatically duringcommunication with the communication terminal 100. Because theinformation processing system 1000 includes the communication terminal100 and the information processing unit 200 having such functions, it ispossible to make the independent processing sequences (e.g. theprocessing (I) to (III) and the processing (i) and (ii)) between theunits appear as successive processing for a user. Thus, even if theinformation processing system 1000 is applied to the service where theunit to perform processing changes as shown in the above (1) to (3), thesignificant decrease in user-friendless does not occur unlike theinformation processing system according to related art, thus improvinguser-friendless.

It is thereby possible to implement the information processing system1000 in which the service provided by the service provider unit 300 etc.can be received seamlessly using the information processing unit 200that indirectly communicates with the service provider unit 300 etc. viathe communication terminal 100.

[Exemplary Applications of the Information Processing System 1000]

<A> Exemplary Applications Corresponding to the First Example of theProcessing in the information processing system 1000

(A-1)

While traveling, a user accesses a server (one example of the serviceprovider unit 300) and purchases a detailed travel guide using a mobilephone (one example of the communication terminal 100). Then, the userholds the mobile phone (one example of the communication terminal 100)over a car navigation unit (one example of the information processingunit 200). Data of the travel guide is thereby downloaded to the carnavigation unit (one example of the information processing unit 200)from the server (one example of the service provider unit 300) via themobile phone (one example of the communication terminal 100).

(A-2)

While going out for a drive, a user accesses a server (one example ofthe service provider unit 300) and purchases music data using a mobilephone (one example of the communication terminal 100). Then, the userholds the mobile phone (one example of the communication terminal 100)over a car navigation unit (one example of the information processingunit 200). The music data is thereby downloaded to the car navigationunit (one example of the information processing unit 200) from theserver (one example of the service provider unit 300) via the mobilephone (one example of the communication terminal 100).

<B> Exemplary Application Corresponding to the Second Example of theProcessing in the Information Processing System 1000

In a car navigation unit (one example of the information processing unit200) where a music content protected by an encryption key is prestored,a user selects purchase of the music content at desired timing. The userthen holds a mobile phone (one example of the communication terminal100) over the car navigation unit (one example of the informationprocessing unit 200). Key information for removal is thereby downloadedto the car navigation unit (one example of the information processingunit 200) via the mobile phone (one example of the communicationterminal 100), so that the protection of the music content is removed.

<C> Other exemplary applications

(C-1)

While going out for a drive with a friend on another car, a userdisplays the phone number of the friend on a mobile phone (one exampleof the communication terminal 100) and holds the mobile phone (oneexample of the communication terminal 100) over a car navigation unit(one example of the information processing unit 200). Then, the carnavigation unit (one example of the information processing unit 200)makes a connection to a mobile phone of the friend via the mobile phone(one example of the communication terminal 100). The user can therebytalk with the friend hands-free.

(C-2)

A user holds a mobile coupon received at a chain store before over a carnavigation unit (one example of the information processing unit 200).The car navigation unit (one example of the information processing unit200) then makes a connection to a server (one example of the serviceprovider unit 300) via a mobile phone (one example of the communicationterminal 100). The latest map list information of the chain storecorresponding to the mobile coupon is thereby downloaded to the carnavigation unit (one example of the information processing unit 200)from the server (one example of the service provider unit 300) via themobile phone (one example of the communication terminal 100).

(C-3)

While a user is driving a car, when the car comes to a road that is notregistered in a car navigation unit (one example of the informationprocessing unit 200), a message “update the map?” is displayed on adisplay screen of the car navigation unit (one example of theinformation processing unit 200). The user then holds a mobile phone(one example of the communication terminal 100) over the car navigationunit (one example of the information processing unit 200). Mapinformation is thereby downloaded to the car navigation unit (oneexample of the information processing unit 200) from a server (oneexample of the service provider unit 300) via the mobile phone (oneexample of the communication terminal 100).

With the use of the information processing system 1000 according to anembodiment, the above <A> to <C> can be implemented, for example.Applications of the information processing system 1000 according to anembodiment are not limited to the above <A> to <C>.

Although the communication terminal 100 is described as an example of acomponent of the information processing system 1000 according to anembodiment above, the embodiment is not limited thereto. For example, anembodiment may be applied to various kinds of devices including mobilecommunication units such as a mobile phone and a personal handyphonesystem (PHS), computers such as ultra mobile personal computer (UMPC)and portable game devices such as PlayStation Portable (registeredtrademark).

Further, although the information processing unit 200 is described as anexample of a component of the information processing system 1000according to an embodiment above, the embodiment is not limited thereto.For example, an embodiment may be applied to various kinds of devicesincluding computers such as PC, music playback units such as WALKMAN(registered trademark) and car navigation units.

(Programs Related to the Information Processing System 1000 [Program forthe Communication Terminal 100]

With use of a program that causes a computer to function as thecommunication terminal 100 according to an embodiment, it is possible toimplement the information processing system 1000 in which the serviceprovided by the service provider unit 300 etc. can be receivedseamlessly using the information processing unit 200 that indirectlycommunicates with the service provider unit 300 etc. via thecommunication terminal 100.

[Program for the Information Processing Unit 200]

With use of a program that causes a computer to function as theinformation processing unit 200 according to an embodiment, it ispossible to implement the information processing system 1000 in whichthe service provided by the service provider unit 300 etc. can bereceived seamlessly using the information processing unit 200 thatindirectly communicates with the service provider unit 300 etc. via thecommunication terminal 100.

Although FIG. 1 shows the configuration where the information processingunit 200 includes both the unit first communication section 204 and theunit second communication section 206 internally, an embodiment is notlimited thereto. For example, the information processing unit accordingto an embodiment may have the configuration where the unit firstcommunication section 204 is installed externally, that is, it may beconnected to the unit first communication section as an external unit(e.g. connected to a reader/writer). In such a configuration also, theinformation processing unit according to an embodiment can acquire theconnection information from the communication terminal 100, thus havingthe same advantage as the information processing unit 200 describedabove.

Further, although a program (computer program) that causes a computer tofunction as the communication terminal 100 or the information processingunit 200 according to an embodiment may be provided as described above,a recording medium that stores the program may be further providedaccording to an embodiment.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present subjectmatter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is thereforeintended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appendedclaims.

The invention is claimed as follows:
 1. An information processingapparatus comprising: a first communication section configured tocommunicate with a communication terminal through a first communicationchannel; and a second communication section configured to communicatewith the communication terminal through a second communication channeldifferent from the first communication channel, wherein the firstcommunication section is used for transmission of connection informationfor establishing the second communication channel with the communicationterminal, wherein the second communication section is configured toestablish the second communication channel based on the connectioninformation, and wherein the information processing apparatus isconnected to a network based on a connection instruction.
 2. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the firstcommunication channel is established by using a carrier at a prescribedfrequency.
 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2,wherein the prescribed frequency is 13.56 MHz.
 4. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the firstcommunication channel is formed by NFC or infrared communication.
 5. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising a display section capable of displaying communication requestinformation requesting communication through the first communicationchannel.
 6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5,wherein the first communication section is configured to transmit aconnection information acquisition request requesting acquisition of theconnection information to the communication terminal if thecommunication request information is displayed on the display section.7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, whereinthe first communication section is configured to receive the connectioninformation from the communication terminal in response to theconnection information acquisition request.
 8. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after the connectioninstruction is transmitted through the second communication channel, theinformation processing apparatus determines whether communication with aservice providing apparatus via the network is available.
 9. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein servicedata that is received includes music data by which to run theinformation processing apparatus.
 10. The information processingapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processingapparatus is connected to a service providing apparatus via the networkbased on connection destination information transferred afterestablishing the second communication channel.
 11. A communicationterminal comprising: a first communication section configured tocommunicate with an information processing apparatus through a firstcommunication channel; and a second communication section configured tocommunicate with the information processing apparatus through a secondcommunication channel different from the first communication channel,wherein the first communication section is used for transmission ofconnection information for establishing the second communication channelwith the information processing apparatus, wherein the secondcommunication section is configured to establish the secondcommunication channel based on the connection information, and whereinthe information processing apparatus is connected to a network based ona connection instruction.
 12. The communication terminal according toclaim 11, wherein the first communication channel is established byusing a carrier at a prescribed frequency.
 13. The communicationterminal according to claim 12, wherein the prescribed frequency is13.56 MHz.
 14. The communication terminal according to claim 11, whereinthe first communication channel is formed by NFC or infraredcommunication.
 15. The communication terminal according to claim 11,wherein the first communication section is configured to receive aconnection information acquisition request requesting acquisition of theconnection information from the information processing apparatus. 16.The communication terminal according to claim 15, wherein the firstcommunication section is configured to transmit the connectioninformation to the information processing apparatus in response to theconnection information acquisition request.
 17. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein after the connectioninstruction is transmitted through the second communication channel, theinformation processing apparatus determines whether communication with aservice providing apparatus via the network is available.
 18. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein servicedata that is received includes music data by which to run theinformation processing apparatus.
 19. The information processingapparatus according to claim 11, wherein the information processingapparatus is connected to a service providing apparatus via the networkbased on connection destination information transferred afterestablishing the second communication channel.
 20. A communicationmethod comprising: establishing, with an information processingapparatus, a first communication channel for transmission of connectioninformation for establishing a second communication channel differentfrom the first communication channel; establishing, with the informationprocessing apparatus, the second communication channel based on theconnection information transmitted through the first communicationchannel; and connecting the information processing apparatus to anetwork based on a connection instruction.